Does body mass index predict overweight in native Asian indians? A study from a North Indian population

Aims: Body mass index ( BMI) has been considered as a gold standard for defining overweight and obesity, and in western populations it has correlated with percentage body fat (%BF). However, data in native Asian Indians regarding BMI and %BF is conflicting and questions have been raised to redefine the BMI cut-off values in these subjects. Subjects and Methods: 150 healthy volunteers (79 men and 71 women aged 18-78 and 23-75 years respectively) were recruited for the study. Clinical examination was performed to exclude any systemic disease. Anthropometric measurements were done and %BF was calculated from skinfold thickness. Results: The BMI for men was 24.96 kg/m(2) (+/- 3.85) and for women was 25.75 kg/m(2) (+/- 4.39). %BF calculated by skinfold thickness was 21.94% (+/- 5.92) in men and 35.15% (+/- 5.77) in women. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed a higher sensitivity (92%) and higher negative predictive value (95%) for the conventional cut-off value of the BMI (25 kg/m(2)) in identifying subjects with overweight with % BF of more than 25% in men. However, in females a BMI of 23.9 kg/m(2) had a sensitivity of 84% and negative predictive value of 62% thereby decreasing the misclassification by 13% with %BF of more than 30% as compared to conventional BMI cut-off of >25 kg/m(2). A comparison of BF data amongst Caucasians, Blacks and migrant ethnic Asians revealed inconspicuous differences in men. Conclusion: Native North Indian men had comparative BMI and %BF as that of their western counterparts. Copyright (C) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel.